Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett has joined the UK’s leading small business landlord in urging the public to shop local and support small businesses to recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Mayor will join in with local events and activities as part of The Arch Company’s #loveyourlocalarches campaign, which culminates with Arch Day 2021 on Saturday 3 July – a celebration to highlight the diverse array of small businesses in railway arches across England and Wales. It will see hundreds of small businesses taking part in events across the UK with the aim to increase the visibility of railway arch businesses within their communities and increase footfall.

In Salford, local traders will join Arch Day Fest, a full day of packed activities including a giant picnic with food, drink and entertainment. The event will kick-off at 11.30 at Chapel Walks and members of the public are encouraged to book in advance through Eventbrite.

Mayor Paul Dennett said: “Saturday 3 July is Arch Day – a special national day created by The Arch Company to increase awareness of arch businesses. In Salford, we are supporting the campaign and encouraging people to support businesses locally in the city, located in the railway arches on Chapel Walks and New Bailey Street.”

According to recent research, more than a third of shoppers are more likely to shop locally following the pandemic to help support independent businesses in their area and boost their local economies.[1] Half of young people aged 18-to-24 and 43 per cent of 25–34-year-olds plan to support small businesses more as lockdown restrictions ease.

Working with Network Rail and Transport for London, The Arch Company hopes the campaign will encourage more tourists and local people to visit their local arches and explore the bakeries, butchers, breweries, restaurants, beauty salons, wellness workshops and mechanics that call the arches home. Most businesses located in railway arches are small independent traders – The Arch Company’s data shows that more than two thirds have five employees or fewer.[2]

Among the small businesses taking part in this year’s Arch Day event at Salford is historic and heritage brewery Beer Nouveau. The company brews beer recipes from as far back as the Ancient Egyptian and Viking eras and is home to the Manchester Hop Project, encouraging local people to grow hops in their gardens and allotments across the city for use in its annual Green Hop beer. It was set up in 2014 by former pub manager Steve Dunkley and is located on Temperance Street. Steve said: “We’re happy to support the love your local arches campaign and to be involved in Arch Day 2021, it’s a great opportunity to showcase what we have to offer.”

Many small businesses operating out of railway arches in England and Wales have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, their landlord, The Arch Company, provided a multi-million-pound support package to help as many of them as possible to survive.

For more information about the campaign visit www.thearchco.com/arch-day-2021 or follow the #loveyourlocalarches and #archday2021 activities on Twitter @thearchcompany or Instagram @the_archcompany.

[1] The Future of Small Businesses survey, Vistaprint, June 2021, www.vistaprint.co.uk/hub/the-future-of-small-businesses.

[2] Tenant survey, The Arch Company, April 2019.